#Matrix image red pill blue pill movie#

In Vajrayana, it is what samaya is about, a commitment to make use of whatever you encounter in life to be present and aware. In Mahayana Buddhism, for instance, it is covered by the cultivation of compassion and the corresponding cultivation of the first five of the six perfections: generosity, ethics, patience, energy, and meditative stability (the sixth is wisdom). In many traditions, this strength of character is not talked about explicitly. Whenever it kicks up, you have to meet the turmoil, fin d a way to not be consumed by it, and, as your practice matures, see through it and do whatever is called for in the situation. You can no longer ignore or indulge your own reactivity. On the other hand, if you see that fundamentally you are no different from every other person who has walked on this planet, that greater awareness actually presents you with less choice, not more, and that you have to shoulder the responsibilities of that awareness, you are taking the red pill.Ĭhoosing the red pill requires a certain strength of character. If you feel your experience makes you different and better than other people, you have chosen the blue pill: you continue to live in an illusion. (Please note that I am using the red pill/blue pill imagery as it was originally presented in the movie, not as it has been co-opted by certain groups to advance their views of male and female oppression.)

For Buddhist practitioners, that choice is equivalent to whether you use a glimpse of what you actually are to begin a journey into the unknown or you use it to define and solidify a sense of self.

#Matrix image red pill blue pill movie#

In the movie The Matrix, the protagonist, after finding out that he lives in an illusory world, is offered the choice between taking a red pill and continuing to learn about reality or taking a blue pill and returning to an illusion of life. But it is precisely here that you have to make a choice. That is freedom-freedom from the tyranny of reaction. In that groundlessness, you know that it is possible to experience whatever life throws at you, and not react. For most people, there is a feeling of deep joy and extraordinary freedom, and a humble appreciation th at that experience or shift is only the start of a journey.

The utter groundlessness of experience, when you know it directly, not conceptually, is profoundly meaningful, and it affects people in different ways. The experience of mind nature is, for almost everyone, a turning point in their practice.